Danbury wrestlers beat New Milford to win New Fairfield Duals

Chris Brodeur

Updated 11:08 pm, Saturday, February 2, 2013

NEW FAIRFIELD -- Paul Musso had a busy Saturday. New Fairfield High's third-year wrestling coach was tasked with coordinating the school's signature duals tournament and, of course, steering the surprising Rebels through their most daunting test to date.

The easy part? Seeding the tournament, which featured nine of the state's premier programs and a pair of traditional New England powers, so that the crowd was left watching the ultimate showdown: a rematch of local juggernauts Danbury and New Milford, which hadn't squared off since the Green Wave ended the Hatters' vaunted streak of 262 straight victories over in-state opponents on Dec. 22, 2009.

"I really hope it comes down to them," Musso said in transition Saturday afternoon. "As soon as our match is over, I want to go watch that match."

The dream matchup would indeed materialize. However the top-seeded Hatters, ranked No. 1 in the Norwich Bulletin's state coaches' poll, squashed most of the hype, topping the second-seeded Green Wave 47-14 to capture the 21st --and perhaps most anticipated -- annual edition of the tournament.

It was the Green Wave's first taste of defeat all season (15-1); the Hatters (11-2) have only lost outside state lines.

"We've been trying to wrestle them every year and it just kind of doesn't work out," said Danbury captain Zach Tepper, referring to the scheduling and weather-related conflicts that had conspired to put the rivalry on hold. "It was nice to finally get our revenge against them, and we went out there ready to do it."

With an intensity that both Tepper and coach Ricky Shook felt was lacking in earlier matches, the Hatters buried the Green Wave, securing pinfalls in two of the first weight classes and winning five of the first seven matches overall to build an insurmountable lead.

Danbury's Joe Peterson opened the final round by pinning Thomas McIlveen 58 seconds into the 195-pound match and Ray Brito-Paulino pinned Jomar Orejula-Nunez 1:46 into the 285-pound match. The Hatters collected additional pinfalls from Shane Jennings at 145 and Haxhi Lajqi at 170, and technical falls from Tepper (138) and Johnny Garcia (160), rounding out a dominant finish to a day that started a bit sluggishly out of the gates.

Sensing a lack of focus early, Shook delivered a mid-tournament pep talk to stem the tide.

"I don't know why I have to," Shook said. "They kind of push the limit all the time with me. We weren't ready. I didn't like the way some of the guys warmed up. We didn't prepare as well as we could have. New Fairfield scored the most points on us of anyone in the whole tournament (47-27 in the second round of pool play)."

Paulo Freitas, who Shook lauded as his most impressive performer on the day, outlasted New Milford's Halim Bourjeili in their 106-pound bout, 5-2. The Hatters' other victories in the final belonged to Kevin Jack (126), Chris Bryant (120) and Eric Henry (182).

"(Danbury) set the bar and everyone wants to get to their level," said New Milford coach Chris Piel. "This is a great test for this part of the season, to see where you're at and what you need to work on."

Looming large for the Green Wave, the eighth-ranked team in the Norwich Bulletin's coaches' poll, is a Feb. 6 visit from New Fairfield. The Rebels, a 5-18 team a season ago, have emerged as an unlikely threat to the Green Wave's SWC tournament supremacy, a run of eight straight titles and 10 out of the last 17.